Sunday, April 27, 2008

Cheesecake Pops


Cheesecake Pops


Once again, this months Daring Bakers Challenge is here. To be completely honest, I was hoping for something more... Well, challenging. This months challenge was to make Cheesecake Pops. I don't know if it were just me, but it seemed way to easy. Nonetheless, I still was looking forward to making these. They seemed interesting and I'd never made them before. So I was still all for trying something I'd never made.

The recipe was pretty simple. However, the baking time... It said for 35-45 minutes, but, for me, it took almost an hour. That was probably the only thing that I'd had trouble with. The time. When it came to coating them, I first coated one completely with chocolate. I didn't like it. The chocolate over powered the taste of the cheesecake. You couldn't really taste the cheesecake because the chocolate was over powering it. So, instead of coating it completely with chocolate, I drizzled it. Much better in my opinion.

It was an o.k. pop in my opinion. My taste buds don't necessarily like the taste of just plain cheesecake. I'd want some more flavor in it. I'd probably would had liked it more that way. Nonetheless, it was still a good pop.



Cheesecake Pops


Recipe

5 packages (8-oz. ) cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Cheesecake Pops1/4 tsp. salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

30-40 lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped
2 tbsp. vegetable shortening

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)


1. Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

3. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

4. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

5. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

6. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth.

7. Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening as needed.

8. Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.


Cheesecake Pops



Cheesecake Pops

42 comments:

Katrina said...

Cute! I love the drizzled coating.

Anonymous said...

WoW! Pretty pops!

Robyn said...

Those look so cute!

Dagmar said...

Great work. I agree that this wasn't challenging enough, but it was very fun! :-)

Deborah said...

Your pops look great! I love the look of the drizzled chocolate.

Anonymous said...

Those are some beautiful pops - great decorating.

Pixie said...

They weren't my fav. either but thought it was all great fun in the end. ;)

Anonymous said...

They did come out very pretty. I like the drizzle effect.

Anonymous said...

Very cute, love the colors!!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Tarah, you did an EXCEPTIONAL job on this Daring Bakers Challenge; and no doubt it'd be easy for you - you're a talented, experienced baker! :0)

Love the photograph, especially - such a unique angle!

Christine said...

Your pops look great! Love the decorations!

Jenny said...

They look beautiful Tarah!

Jen Yu said...

Very pretty. I like the purple sprinkles the most! :) I didn't even taste my cheesecake pops... but they were fun to decorate. You did a great job on yours.

Lori said...

Love the look of your cheesecake pops. I also liked the angle of that first picture. Very cute!

Shelby said...

Beautiful Pops! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Drizzling the pops with chocolate was a good idea. I agree with you - chocolate coat "eats away" the flavor of the cheesecake, and it makes the cake too rich. I like the drizzling idea! Great looking pops!

Jerry said...

Lovely!

Patsyk said...

I love the way you drizzled the chocolate on them. They look wondeful!

desie said...

so colourful. your pops look great.

maybelles mom said...

great job--love the nesting effect of the cheesecakes.

kellypea said...

The drizzly sprinkly thing you've got going on is awesome! They turned out great in spite of the cooking time issue. It's always something, right?

Elle said...

Gorgeous photos!!

Brilynn said...

The Db challenge doesn't have to be difficult to make for it to be a challenge. You're supposed to challenge yourself to make it your own and put your own spin on it.
Your pops really do look lovely though!

Melanie said...

Very cool first picture. And I agree with all the other commenters that the drizzle technique was brilliant! I'll use that next time for sure.

Molly Loves Paris said...

Lovely pops. I like your idea of minimizing the chocolate. I agree that plain is too plain, but I didn't know enough about cheese cake to know how to zip it up.

KayKat said...

Wow! That first pic totally blew me away!

I didn't try the drizzle this time, I should go for it the next time I make these.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Very pretty! You did a great job here! I love the first picture!

Cheers,

Rosa

marias23 said...

I'm sure the next one will be a challenge after such a relatively easy one ;) You did a wonderful job on these pops!

Anonymous said...

I like how you decorated your pops Jackson Pollack-style! They look so colorful and fun.

Gigi said...

beautiful presentation. i love the drizzled chocolate.

~Amber~ said...

Beautiful cheesecake pops. They look awesome.

Barbara said...

I love the drizzled chocolate and toppings. Great job.

(I had to bake mine longer too.)

Unknown said...

I kinda agree that these were pretty easy - in fact they made me think of the kind of dessert served in restaurants that don't want to hire pastry chefs. I still thought they tasted good, but I want a recipe to kick my butt. I might regret wishing for that, so we'll see what next month's challenge brings.

Anonymous said...

I love that one with drizzled chocolate and white and pink sprinkles - so pretty!

test it comm said...

Nice looking pops!

cookworm said...

Love the drizzled ones. Nice shots!

chriesi said...

Cute pops!

RecipeGirl said...

Tarah- they turned out so, so cute! I thought these were pretty easy too (though time consuming.) But I personally loved them- frozen!

Chou said...

I'm with you on the overpowering chocolate. I lost all my lime hints--thankfully I only dipped a few. :)

Texana said...

Love the drizzle effect--wish I had done that. Very cute!

Dolores said...

Your drizzled chocolate pops have a delightful artistic flair. Great job.

Anonymous said...

the drizzled ones are my favourites :) you've done a great job ! congratulations !

 
 
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